Side gusseted paper bags have been commercially made for many years with openings that permit bag charging or filling. But these bags are quite costly, not only because of the additional materials needed about the bag filling opening, but also because of the labor and time to close and seal the bag.
The following patents were found in a preliminary patentability search:
InventorU.S. Pat. No.Issue DateHarvey3,276,670Jul. 27, 1964Piazze3,618,478Nov. 9, 1971Benoit4,571,235Feb. 18, 1986Benoit4,655,737Apr. 7, 1987Roen, et al.4,717,262Jan. 5, 1988Humphrey4,764,030Aug. 16, 1988Benoit4,816,104Mar. 28, 1989Olesen4,881,825Nov. 21, 1989Beer4,913,561Apr. 3, 1990Gelbard4,943,167Jul. 24, 1990Mundus4,959,114Sep. 25, 1990Wood5,165,799Nov. 24, 1992Gebhardt5,676,467Oct. 14, 1997Schoeler5,862,652Jan. 26, 1999Daniels, et al.Re.36,876Sep. 19, 2000Beer6,213,645Apr. 10, 2001Angless6,254,520Jul. 3, 2001
The Harvey, U.S. Pat. No. 3,276,670, shows a tapered side gusseted bag but has no filling valve. The Piazze, U.S. Pat. No. 3,618,478, shows a gusseted bottom bag with diagonal heat seals but has no filling valve either.
The Benoit, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,571,235 and 4,816,104, show a T-shirt bag with diagonal heat seals at the bottom. Again, it has no filling valve. The Benoit, U.S. Pat. No. 4,655,737, is duplicative with respect to the Benoit '235 patent.
The Roen, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,717,262, shows a gusseted bottom bag with diagonal heat seals and a sine wave handle. The Humphrey, U.S. Pat. No. 4,764,030, shows serrated bags on a roll but no discharge or filling valve.
The Olesen, U.S. Pat. No. 4,881,825, discusses both a filling valve and a discharge valve and a “block” style bottom and top, formed by folding and overlapping the ends of an open tube onto itself much like gift wrapping a box but tucking the sides inwardly and then folding the paper onto itself. See FIG. 10, for example. The discharge valve is for the purpose of pouring product out of the bag and no details are shown of the charging features in Olesen's bag.
The Beer, U.S. Pat. No. 4,913,561, shows what appears to be a valve on the upper left corner of the bag but rather than that, it is a heat seal which is intended to allow the bag to square once it is filled with product.
The Gelbard, U.S. Pat. No. 4,943,167, shows a side gusseted T-shirt bag made three across at one time and involves the continuous slitting and heat sealing of one tube longitudinally into three longitudinal tubes, post gusseting and heat sealing to create a top and bottom of the bag.
The Mundus, U.S. Pat. No. 4,959,114, shows a method which includes feeding flat sheet roll stock, folding it over into two, post gusseting it and sealing it into gusseted tubing with a longitudinal heat seal and then trimming off the excess.
The Wood, U.S. Pat. No. 5,165,799; the Gebhardt, U.S. Pat. No. 5,676,467; the Schoeler, U.S. Pat. No. 5,862,652; the Daniels, et al., Re.36,876; the Beer, U.S. Pat. No. 6,213,645; the Angless, U.S. Pat. No. 6,254,520; the Totani, Pub. U.S. 2001/0002938, published Jul. 7, 2001; and the Interpoly Limited U.K. Patent Application GB 2 226 541A, published Apr. 7, 1990, all show gusseted bags, gusseted T-shirt bags, laminated film structure gusseted bags, trifolded bags, post-bag making, and a separate bottom panel system sealed into a tube on four sides that shows an accordion type bag. None of these latter patents have filling systems.
It is a primary object of the present invention to ameliorate the problems noted above in prior art chargeable bags.